The Parables After Jesus
Their Imaginative Receptions Across Two Millennia
Published on 30. December 2020
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-1-4813-1410-7 (ISBN)
Description
Over the centuries, some interpreters have attempted to explain what parables mean. Other interpreters have endeavored to articulate what parables do-how they "work" rhetorically or poetically. With the parables of Jesus, however, more is required, because Jesus' parables have always demanded a response from readers or hearers. Interpreters, therefore, should also seek to ascertain what parables want, because the parables of Jesus not only stake claims and demand responses; they also challenge their hearers to act. This challenge reverberates across the centuries, calling us continually back to the texts to discover anew what these distinctive and wonderful stories show us about what it means to be human and the ways in which Jesus urges us to follow God in word and deed. The Parables after Jesus is the first book to explore in a comprehensive way the "afterlives" of the parable tradition-how people have interpreted, been influenced by, and applied Jesus' enigmatic and compelling parables in a multitude of ways, perspectives, eras, contexts, and media. Interpretation is never a solitary endeavor, for each interpreter stands on the shoulders of previous interpreters, continually in dialogue with other interpretations, past and present. Gowler's reception history discusses more than fifty imaginative receptions of Jesus' parables, selected from two millennia of parable interpretation-from those who have dominated discussions to often ignored or suppressed voices. From this we see how the use of Jesus' parables affects society and culture and how powerfully parables have challenged-and continue to challenge-people's hearts, minds, and imaginations.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Waco
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
333 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4813-1410-7 (9781481314107)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
David B. Gowler is Pierce Professor of Religion at Oxford College of Emory University, Senior Faculty Fellow at the Center for Ethics at Emory University, and Co-Editor of Emory Studies in Early Christianity. He is the author of Host, Guest, Enemy, and Friend: Portraits of the Pharisees in Luke and Acts; What Are They Saying about the Parables?; What Are They Saying about the Historical Jesus?; James through the Centuries; and The Parables after Jesus: Their Imaginative Receptions across Two Millennia. His books have been translated into French, Korean, Indonesian, and Japanese. He has also published dozens of articles, book chapters, and book reviews, and is the editor or coeditor of over thirty books.
Content
List of Illustrations
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in Antiquity (to ca. 550 CE)
Irenaeus
The Gospel of Philip
Clement of Alexandria
Tertullian
Origen
John Chrysostom
Augustine
Macrina the Younger
Ephrem the Syrian
The Good Shepherd in Early Christian Art
Oil Lamp
Roman Catacombs
Dura-Europos House Church
Illuminations from the Rossano Gospels
Byzantine Mosaics, Christ Separating Sheep from Goats, Sant'Apollinare Nuovo (Ravenna, Italy)
Romanos the Melodist
2. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in the Middle Ages (ca. 550-1500 CE)
Gregory the Great
Sahih al-Bukhari
Wazo of Liege
The Golden Gospels of Echternach
The Laborers in the Vineyard
The Wicked Tenants
The Great Dinner
The Rich Man and Lazarus
Theophylact
Hildegard of Bingen
Chartres Cathedral
Bonaventure
Thomas Aquinas
John Gower
Antonia Pulci
Albrecht Duerer
3. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
Martin Luther
Anna Jansz of Rotterdam
John Calvin
John Maldonatus
William Shakespeare
Domenico Fetti
George Herbert
Roger Williams
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
John Bunyan
4. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
William Blake
Soren Kierkegaard
Frederick Douglass
Fanny Crosby
Leo Tolstoy
John Everett Millais
Emily Dickinson
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Adolf Juelicher
5. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
Thomas Hart Benton
Parables and the Blues: Rev. Robert Wilkins
Flannery O'Connor
Martin Luther King Jr.
Godspell
Two Latin American Receptions
The Peasants of Solentiname
Elsa Tamez
David Flusser
Octavia Butler
Thich Nhat Hanh
Conclusion: What Do Parables Want?
Appendix: Descriptions of the Parables Cited in the Interpretations
Works Cited
Scripture Index
Subject Index
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in Antiquity (to ca. 550 CE)
Irenaeus
The Gospel of Philip
Clement of Alexandria
Tertullian
Origen
John Chrysostom
Augustine
Macrina the Younger
Ephrem the Syrian
The Good Shepherd in Early Christian Art
Oil Lamp
Roman Catacombs
Dura-Europos House Church
Illuminations from the Rossano Gospels
Byzantine Mosaics, Christ Separating Sheep from Goats, Sant'Apollinare Nuovo (Ravenna, Italy)
Romanos the Melodist
2. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in the Middle Ages (ca. 550-1500 CE)
Gregory the Great
Sahih al-Bukhari
Wazo of Liege
The Golden Gospels of Echternach
The Laborers in the Vineyard
The Wicked Tenants
The Great Dinner
The Rich Man and Lazarus
Theophylact
Hildegard of Bingen
Chartres Cathedral
Bonaventure
Thomas Aquinas
John Gower
Antonia Pulci
Albrecht Duerer
3. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
Martin Luther
Anna Jansz of Rotterdam
John Calvin
John Maldonatus
William Shakespeare
Domenico Fetti
George Herbert
Roger Williams
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
John Bunyan
4. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
William Blake
Soren Kierkegaard
Frederick Douglass
Fanny Crosby
Leo Tolstoy
John Everett Millais
Emily Dickinson
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Adolf Juelicher
5. The Afterlives of Jesus's Parables in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
Thomas Hart Benton
Parables and the Blues: Rev. Robert Wilkins
Flannery O'Connor
Martin Luther King Jr.
Godspell
Two Latin American Receptions
The Peasants of Solentiname
Elsa Tamez
David Flusser
Octavia Butler
Thich Nhat Hanh
Conclusion: What Do Parables Want?
Appendix: Descriptions of the Parables Cited in the Interpretations
Works Cited
Scripture Index
Subject Index